


Just One Twinkling Star Away

by StellarLibraryLady



Series: Eddie And Vee [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), This Means War (2012), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Beaches, Bickering, Cameras, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Destiny, Dingly-Dangly, Falling In Love, First Time, Foreplay, Gene Roddenberry Reference, Golden Gate Bridge, Injured Man, Is San Francisco A Time Portal?, Jim Meets Venom, Karma - Freeform, Kismet, Love Confessions, M/M, Moonlight, Oaths & Vows, Outdoor Sex, Parasite Or Brain Tumor, Partings, Perineum, Petty Thieves, Police, Portals, Reunions, San Francisco, Shore Leave, Snuggling, Soulmates, Starfleet Insignia, Starfleet Uniform, Staying True, Surveillance, Tallywhacker, Time Travel, Time Warp Continuum, True Love, White Envelope, eternal love, lady luck - Freeform, space shuttle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:21:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25232299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellarLibraryLady/pseuds/StellarLibraryLady
Summary: Eddie Brock and Venom find a guy injured and confused on the beach. He has no idea who he is and needs help. His appeal resonates with Eddie who takes him in.But why does Eddie have the uncanny feeling that somehow he and the newcomer have a history? They just feel so comfortable together, as if they were soulmates.What is really odd, though, is the uniform that the stranger is wearing. Eddie has never seen anything quite like it--except on old sci-fi shows about space travel. What catches Eddie's eye in particular, though, is the emblem over the stranger's heart. It looks like a boomerang in flight with its corners pulled back really, really far.Or a Starfleet insignia.As Mr. Spock would say, there are no coincidences or miracles. Yet Eddie Brock and this stranger seem to be experiencing one.
Relationships: Eddie Brock/Venom Symbiote, Franklin "FDR" Foster & Tuck Hansen, James T. Kirk & Leonard "Bones" McCoy & Spock, James T. Kirk/Eddie Brock, James T. Kirk/Eddie Brock/Venom, Tom Hardy/Chris Pine
Series: Eddie And Vee [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1574260
Comments: 8
Kudos: 14





	1. Stranger On The Shore

**Author's Note:**

> Chris Pine and Tom Hardy made a happy buddy film together called "This Means War." So why shouldn't Captain James T. Kirk and Eddie Brock have an opportunity to form a friendship, too?
> 
> Or is there some other reason why they might feel an instant kinship? After all, their alter egos already know each other.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie and Venom enjoy a walk on the moonlit beach, then find a handsome stranger unconscious and needing help.

“It sure is pretty out here tonight, ain’t it, Venom?” Eddie Brock asked as he stood staring out to sea while a brisk wind playfully tossed his hair in the evening breeze. A full moon sailed overhead and created all sorts of harsh shadows behind objects that would be ordinary in daylight, but the creamy moonlight made them appear almost magical now. It was as if someone had placed a filter on the sun, and it was overhead instead of the moon. Eddie had often seen the same effect in old movies when the film was shot with special filters in daylight and was supposed to represent nighttime. What gave it away was that the shadows were too harsh, as they were tonight.

But Eddie wasn’t thinking of old movies now. He was enjoying what lay ahead of him and all around him. He didn’t need to go to pricey nightclubs or sporting events to enjoy a wonderful evening out. (Although he was the first one in line if something like that came his way, especially if someone else was buying.) He just enjoyed nature, especially in this part of the world. And he could go out into it alone and not feel lonely.

But, of course, he was not alone. Not since his own personal Symbiote had taken up residence in his life and his body. Sometimes it was a little frustrating because he had no privacy, but on the whole they got along pretty well. And Venom was always ready to discourage someone if they meant to harm Eddie. Otherwise, Venom was a sweetheart. But he also made one fact perfectly clear. He was Eddie’s sweetheart, and Eddie was his. Period. And that was just the way that Eddie liked it, too.

It was a perfect night for two romantics to go walking on a deserted beach near San Francisco. That big ol’ yellow moon shining above them would put anyone in the mood for loving, and then this lovely, lonely beach would finish the setting. Eddie hoped that Venom was feeling all of the romance that Eddie was experiencing deep inside him.

But, of course, Venom was. It was impossible to hide anything from Venom. Sometimes that was a little disconcerting. But other times, like now, it sure could cut corners in the romance department. And it gave a whole new meaning to foreplay.

Venom, who was riding on Eddie’s shoulder so he had a good view of the ocean and sky, turned and nestled his head lovingly against Eddie’s neck, similar to the way that a cat will do when massaging its owner’s body with the top of its head.

"Hey, what was that for?" Eddie asked with a fond grin. "That was kinda sweet."

"The night makes me happy that we are together, Eddie."

"Hey, it's what Mother Nature does best when she wants her people to be extra happy with each other," Eddie explained with his grin mellowing. "The whole evening has been set up to make us feel tender and special toward the person we're with. Soft breezes with music in it we can almost hear, balmy weather after the warmth of the day, moonlight so bright that it's almost a version of the day, an urging to seek out the one that means the most to you, a notion that you feel utterly at peace and content with yourself."

Venom must have agreed because he burrowed gently, but with more determination into Eddie's neck so Eddie would not forget that he was there-- as if he could!

Eddie found that massaging particularly soothing and stimulating, so he turned his head toward that nestling head and burrowed into it, too. Then he puckered his lips and applied a sucking kiss somewhere into that black mass that must be about where Venom's neck must be. The black mass swirled around Eddie's face and vibrated with the universe. Apparently he approved of where Eddie's kiss had landed.

Venom sighed. His world had never been like this.

Eddie sighed, too, as he looked back into the night and continued his walking through it. A smile curved along his lips and almost hurt in its intensity.

His world had never been like this.

And it could be even more when they got back to the shack that Eddie was renting for the summer. Eddie had wanted a lazy summer on the beach with Venom. Sunbathing in the day's heat and then lying out on the beach as the sand cooled in the evening. Some evenings they did not wait to get back to the shack, but made love as the sand swirled around them. The beach was littered with hollows that Eddie's butt had made while Venom had pounded into him. It looked like some soft-nosed bombs had exploded, but Eddie knew what had caused those round indentations. In fact, he wouldn't mind making one now. The evening was perfect for love making.

“Oh, Eddie, you are wanting me in you,” Venom crooned close to his ear.

Eddie couldn’t help it. He smirked. “You already are in me.”

“You know how I mean, Eddie. I will tell you what I want to do with you to make it special,” Venom started in an enticing voice.

"It's always special," Eddie said soberly and meant it with every core in him.

"I will do something different," Venom amended.

"What's that?" Eddie asked with a tolerant smile for he knew he was going to hear quite a suggestion. 

“Find a log," Venom directed. "Lie down beside it with your naked legs spread open toward the moon, and I will give you a wildlife experience that you will never forget. It will give you a whole new definition of wild life, because it will be something quite untamed.”

Eddie grinned. “Naked legs spread open to the moon, eh? I’ve heard of perineum sunbathing, but never perineum moon bathing. What if a night bird flies over, spots my exposed tallywhacker just flopping around ‘cause it’s excited about what’s going on in the neighborhood and everything, and decides that dingly-dangly would make one helluva tasty night-night snack for its kiddies back in its nest. That would sure be a mood breaker if that night bird grabbed my tallywhacker and tried to make off with it. I’m telling you up front, Vee, I’m mighty partial to my tallywhacker, and I intend to keep it with me until check-out time, if you know what I mean. Where I go, it goes. Kinda like you and me.”

“If a night bird is attracted to your tallywhacker and makes a dive for it, I will grab it out of the night sky and use it for my own tasty night-night snack. Hmm. That gives me an idea. We could use your tallywhacker for bait and snag all sorts of foolish birds. We could even dangle it in the ocean to catch unwary sea life when we want a change in our diets. We will not even need a rod and reel, either! That is already built into you!”

“Bad idea! My tallywhacker is original standard equipment issued with this model! And it's staying intact, just the way it is! I don’t want anything in the ocean or flying in the air to get a taste for this worm I’m packing around with me! I'm kinda funny that way, but that's how the matter stands.”

“Too bad, Eddie. We would not have to buy raw fish at the meat market anymore. We could eliminate the middle man and get them right here. And they would be fresher, too. And no one would ever have to buy live bait anymore. Just think what that would mean to fishermen everywhere.”

“Fresh is fresh, but I don’t particularly want my fish still flopping around,” Eddie objected. “They look so accusing when they stare at me, anyway.”

“I believe that is called giving someone the fisheye, Eddie.”

“You’re a good example of what they mean when they say that a little education is a dangerous thing. No more television for you.”

“Oh, Eddie, you know you are only teasing,” Venom purred. “You like me to be happy.”

“Oh, hell, I can’t hide a thing from you, can I? Not that I want to. It’s just that-- Wait! What’s that?! On the beach?! Over there?! That mass?!” Eddie took off at a trot.

“Did it wash out of the ocean, Eddie? Is it something good to eat?” Venom asked as Eddie hurried toward the sodden heap at the edge of the water. “I could use a snack just about now. The night air is stimulating my appetite. I hope it is something that is still alive. I do not like dead meat.”

"I'm beginning to be that way myself," Eddie mumbled. He hoped that if this strange object was eatable that it was also nearly expired, otherwise Eddie might have quite a battle on his hands if he meant to provide Venom with his snack. Then he remembered that he had Venom with him, Venom who could take out anything from Godzilla on down.

Eddie fell to his knees beside the sodden mass and rolled it over. That's when he discovered that it was not just a thing, but a person. A person lying on the beach, either by design or accident. Or by foul play. Probably the latter, because the person was unconscious instead of being asleep. The person wasn't wet, either, just lying in a heap. So that ruled out that the victim had washed ashore or had been swimming.

Then Eddie gasped. The milky moonlight shining over Eddie's shoulder fell fully on the face of a young man, a beautiful young man with hair that glimmered like rare old gold. But the face! The noble face was handsome and strong and determined, even in unconsciousness.

Eddie had never seen anything so beautiful in his whole life. It had to be a god fallen to Earth.

“Is he alive, Eddie?” Venom asked breathlessly. He was taken with the beautiful stranger on the beach, too: Partly because he had felt Eddie’s reaction and partly because he was developing an appreciation for what Earthlings considered to be beautiful. And this creature was certainly that, as was his dear Eddie (even if Eddie didn't think so-- Venom most certainly did).

Eddie touched the stranger’s warm neck and felt a steady pulse hammering away strongly in his carotid artery. “He’s alive, Vee. His pulse is good and so is his breathing. He just seems to be unconscious."

The stranger started coming around then. He moaned, frowned, and twisted his head from side to side.

"Careful," Eddie cautioned. "You might have spinal injuries. Don't move around too much."

"What will we do with him, Eddie?"

Eddie got out his cellphone. "I'll call an ambulance, and the police. This guy's been mugged."

The guy's eyes shot open. "No! No police!"

Eddie had never seen such fear. Or such blue eyes.

"It's alright," Eddie soothed. "Calm down. We won't do anything you don't want."

The stranger's hand griped Eddie's shoulder, and he gave Eddie a desperate look. "Please! Don't let them get me!"

"You're safe." Eddie felt like he could give that personal reassurance since he had Venom with him. "You don't have to worry. You'll be okay now."

The stranger relaxed. He seemed to trust Eddie. And that's when Eddie decided to help him.

Hell, why not take him in? Eddie knew what it was like to be alone and scared in the world. Besides, he'd taken in all sorts of other strays in his time, even an alien Symbiote. So why not some stranger down on his luck? After all, what could the stranger do to harm him when Eddie had Venom with him?

So Eddie hoisted him up in his arms (with help from Venom, of course) and carried the stranger away with him to their shack on the beach nearby. Eddie did not notice, though, that when he lifted the stranger, a letter fell out of his back pocket, flew a few feet down the beach, and abruptly disappeared. If Eddie would have looked back toward the direction where the stranger had come from, Eddie would have been surprised to see that the stranger's staggering footsteps in the sand also disappeared after a few feet just as his letter had done.

It was as if the handsome stranger had appeared out of nowhere.


	2. Lady Luck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spock and McCoy aid the San Francisco police in the search for the missing Jim Kirk.

“What do you mean, he just disappeared?!” Leonard McCoy’s eyes and nose were flaring with indignation, and they had good reason to be. McCoy had just heard something bad concerning the whereabouts of his good friend and captain, James T. Kirk. It seemed that nobody knew where Kirk was. And that wasn't setting very well with McCoy at all, not very well at all.

And this young man they'd drawn in the jailhouse lottery better know that fact right off. To be fair, he seemed like a nice enough guy, just a little taken aback that he was having to deal with real-life heroes from Starfleet. McCoy wasn't feeling like much of a hero at the moment, though. He was just a private citizen who was anxious about the disappearance of a dear friend and colleague.

McCoy wanted results and he wanted them now! He tried to keep a hold on his emotions and his demands, though. Logic told him that wouldn't help matters any. Besides, it'd make him look bad in front of the Vulcan.

Thank goodness that the Vulcan was with him, though! It well might be the only thing still holding McCoy together. But he sure as hell wasn't gonna let the Vulcan know that!

The detective gave him a steady look. “I am sorry, Dr. McCoy. At this point in our investigation that’s all we can tell you, I’m afraid. Your friend has simply gone missing without a trace.”

“I don’t know much about physics or metaphysics, young man,” McCoy continued while barely being able to speak. “But this ol’ country boy knows one thing for damn sure! Everybody’s gotta be somewhere, even if it’s only in a cemetery! At least there, we got somebody located! But not in this case! You can’t even give us a body to bury!”

Spock put a restraining hand on McCoy’s arm. Lucky for McCoy that Spock was as understanding as he was. “Doctor, control yourself. We do not know that Jim has expired. Perhaps the news is not as devastating as it sounds.”

“What part of it sounds okay to you?!” McCoy snapped, glaring at him. “Point it out and I will be only too happy to embrace it! Jim’s gone! And the cops are hamstrung! His footprints just disappeared in the sand! Disappeared! That doesn’t happen! Footprints go from one place to the other, and the guy is still standing in the last set he makes! Sounds sensible to me!”

“It does to us, too, Dr. McCoy, but--” 

“Maybe we better call in Scotland Yard and get Sherlock Holmes hot on the case! Because these local guys don’t seem to have a clue! And, yeah, that’s a play on words, and I meant it!” he said as he glared at Spock.

Spock looked at the young lieutenant. “Dr. McCoy has a thing about puns and idioms and the fact that I do not understand them in context.”

“I wondered,” Jared Doyeur noted. “And I also wondered what it had to do with this case.”

“Nothing,” Spock answered. “It is just something between him and me. Jim, I mean Captain Kirk, says it makes us endearing. It is not that endearing to Dr. McCoy and myself, though. It is just frustrating. And I believe that I speak for Dr. McCoy as well as myself when I say that.”

“Spock, you don’t have to be explaining all of that to this guy,” McCoy urged. “His eyes will be glazing over with boredom next.”

“On the contrary, Doctor. I feel that I do need to explain. He is a detective. He detects.”

“But he doesn’t have to wonder about OUR whereabouts, Spock. He knows where we are. We're right in front of him.”

“He is the one who knows what is important in this case, not us.”

McCoy gave the detective a look that said, ‘See what I’m working with here?’

“Leonard, supposing you let me handle this?” Spock suggested. “After all, I am the acting captain now in Jim’s absence.”

McCoy crossed his arms and turned away. “Fine. Go ahead. Act away. Let’s see just how far this guy gets with your inability to understand the English language outside of a Shakespearean class or an honors English language symposium." He glanced at the detective. "I hope you are well versed in obscure Elizabethan words, young man, because they might be headed your way faster than any idiom might that could have cleared up what you're wanting to know,” McCoy said to the policeman.

“Dr. McCoy is alluding to the fact that I learned very formal English,” Spock explained. “It is a private issue with us, and I apologize for it coming up now. Dr. McCoy does not mean to be disrespectful to you or to your abilities. He is upset over the disappearance of our captain.”

“That’s understandable,” Jared Doyeur remarked. Even though he was young and inexperienced, he was kind-hearted and was letting McCoy and Spock talk as much as they wanted. Their friend was missing. Of course they were upset.

Doyeur was in charge of them while his partner was running down clues, what there was of them. In the meanwhile, maybe Doyeur could help soften the reality of the fact that not too much could be done to find Kirk, simply because Kirk hadn't left very much behind to indicate that he had even passed this way. If eye witnesses had not seen him, he might not even have existed.

Listening to McCoy and Spock might be tedious, but it might inadvertently bring out clues that they thought might not be important. Besides, they were nearly dignitaries themselves requiring V.I.P. treatment, as they were ranking officers on the famous and infamous Enterprise, flagship of Starfleet fame that was under the jurisdiction of the United Federation of Planets. As a youth, Doyeur had entertained notions of joining Starfleet, but who didn’t want to be in Starfleet when they were growing up? Doyeur wasn’t good enough to join, though, but he could certainly do his best now to help Starfleet.

“Supposing we go over the facts again, if you don’t mind,” Doyeur suggested.

McCoy rolled his eyes, but Spock nodded. “There is not much to tell. Admiral Martin Dewey had sent his personal shuttle for Captain Kirk, who was to attend a special meeting with him at Starfleet. Dr. McCoy and I were to follow in a shuttle from the Enterprise so that we would have it when all three of us returned to the Enterprise later. Upon our arrival a short time later, we found general chaos and the captain missing.”

“Why did Admiral Dewey do that?” Doyeur asked. “Why did he send his personal shuttle for Kirk’s use? Isn’t that highly irregular?”

Spock looked amused. “The admiral recently obtained that shuttle. It has all sorts of conveniences and extras that are not really necessary, but are grand to have in the few moments that the shuttle is in the air. For instance, a wet bar and a wrap-around television screen are highlights.”

“Is that really necessary in a shuttle?” Doyeur asked with a frown.

“Of course not. It adds nothing to the performance of the shuttle, and the time element in a shuttle is generally not that long. Admiral Dewey just wanted to show off what he had.”

“New toys for old boys?” Doyeur asked with a knowing smile. “But if he wanted to show off for Kirk, why wasn’t Dewey in the shuttle so he could hear Kirk’s reactions and see his envy?”

“Because Dewey apparently wanted the captain bragging about the accouterments in front of the other admirals. Dewey does not want to impress Kirk as much as the admiral’s fellow officers.”

“Makes sense. And it might even figure into what happened.”

“Will you tell us again what you know about that?” Spock asked.

“Well, as you said, there is nothing much to tell,” Doyeur started. “When the shuttle landed at the Front Bay Street Depot, Captain Kirk disembarked where he was accosted by two men in policeman uniforms. They said that Kirk was supposed to be Dewey, then grabbed Kirk’s attache case apparently just for the hell of it and took off. He ran after them with a couple of guards from the shuttle right behind them. They all headed for the beach. The guards saw the crooks run around a palisade with Kirk behind them. When the guards rounded the palisade, they saw the crooks, but no Kirk. Since the guards were guarding Kirk whom they could no longer see, the guards took off in an elliptical curve to head off the bad guys whom they quickly caught. "

McCoy frowned and Spock did not look very happy, either.

“Of course, the guards wanted to know what the two guys had done with Kirk. They said ‘nothing,’ and time proved that they were telling the truth. They couldn’t have been battling Kirk and still have gotten as far down the beach as they had. Besides, the place where Kirk disappeared proved their story, too. There was no signs of a fight, just of Kirk’s footprints disappearing. Remember, the guards hadn’t run over the same area, because they had taken an elliptical path to head off the crooks.”

“So the area where the captain disappeared is pristine,” Spock wanted to know. "Nobody has been through there since our captain vanished in it, is that not correct?"

“It’s supposed to be. It's roped off,” Deyeur answered. “Some crabs might’ve shuffled across it since then, and a few seagulls might’ve flown over it, but nothing in the form of a man has encroached on it.”

“Did the crabs and the seagulls make it across the area?”

“Why do you want to know that?!” Doyeur thundered. He might’ve expected the emotional McCoy to ask something like that, but not the level-headed Vulcan. “What does that have to do with anything?!”

“I do not know. I just want to know if anything else has disappeared where Captain Kirk did.”

At that point McCoy spoke up. “Spock, if it was Christmastime, I’d say you’d been in the wassail bowl too much. Do you know what you’re even suggesting?! That Kirk took a step from Today into either Tomorrow or Yesterday!” 

“Of course, I do. Time travel has long been a concept in theory.”

“In theory!” McCoy blazed. “In theory! That’s the magic word there! Theory!”

“Can you offer any other idea of what happened to the captain?” Spock asked.

“But time travel! You’re suggesting that a portal opened up and swallowed Jim up!”

“Doctor, I do not know what happened. And I know that it does not make any sense. But if we are getting nowhere with logical evidence, perhaps we need to consider illogical possibilities.”

McCoy rolled his eyes upward. “At least I’ve lived long enough to hear you denying logic.”

“I am not denying logic. I believe in possibilities. And we need to explore any avenue that might help us in our quest.”

“We gotta find Jim back for no other reason than for him to see how much you’re cracking up,” McCoy muttered. 

“But how can you prove any of this?” Doyeur asked. “Outside of stepping into the area yourself and disappearing?”

“We could throw a stick in it,” McCoy suggested.

“The portal could’ve closed up by now,” Doyeur said.

“Did you by chance have cameras installed at the site?” Spock asked.

“Yes, we did,” Doyeur answered. “Seeing as it was someone as important as Captain Kirk who had disappeared and it was an on-going crime scene, we did.”

“Then I suggest that we retire to the theater and watch some film footage,” Spock said.

McCoy heaved himself to his feet. “Not exactly what I’d planned to do in San Francisco,” he muttered. “But what the hell, I’ve done worse on shore leave. I’ll bring the popcorn and root beer.” He glanced at Doyeur. “We can’t have anything stronger, or the Vulcan goes ape shit.”

Spock rolled his eyes, but not too much. He knew that McCoy was just as worried about Jim Kirk’s whereabouts as he was.


	3. Karma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie gets better acquainted with "Jim" while he helps him to recuperate. Meanwhile, Spock and McCoy are frustrated because they cannot find Kirk.

Eddie gently lay the stranger down on the battered old sofa in the front room of the shack and spread a blanket over him. He fussed around tucking in corners of it while the stranger just lay and let do whatever he wanted with him. Eddie got the feeling that the stranger welcomed the homey little touches of Eddie clucking over him, as if he was recalling almost forgotten memories of similar attention when he was a child. That warmed Eddie's heart, too, and made him feel special. Finally he could do no more, so he straightened and looked thoughtfully down at his guest.

"Are you warm enough?" Eddie wanted to know.

"Yes. Thanks. I didn't know until you tucked me in that I must've gotten chilled out on the beach."

"Ocean air will do that to you."

The stranger nodded and acted like he wanted to be quiet for awhile, so Eddie let him.

'He looks confused, Eddie.'

'I suppose he is. He's probably trying to get figured out what's going on and how he got here.'

'Will he be alright?'

'I don't know. We'll just be an island for him, an island that he can feel safe on.'

“I feel like I should be doing more for you," Eddie finally said. "Like I should be calling somebody maybe.”

“No, no, this is fine,” the man insisted in a tired, but grateful voice. “Just let me rest.” He glanced around. “It’s nice in here. Cool. Dim. Homey. Quiet.”

Eddie glanced around, too. “It’ll suffice. We just rented this place for a little while this summer, to get away from the city and to commune with nature.”

“We?” the stranger echoed.

“Oh, nobody in particular,” Eddie answered with an affable smile. “Just my collected innards.”

‘I object to being classified with your liver and spleen,’ Venom complained. ‘Do they talk to you when you are lonely? Do they make you feel loved and wanted when you are blue? Do they treasure you above all others?’

‘No,’ Eddie wanted to respond, but grinned to himself because he knew that Venom had heard his answer when Eddie had thought it.

“I’m sorry,” the guy apologized. “Did I say something funny?”

Eddie hadn’t realized that he was grinning. “No, no, it was nothing.”

‘Nothing?!’ Venom was going to be in a royal snit if this kept up. Generally he was good-natured, but this discussion was trying even his patience. He probably was a little bit jealous, too, because he knew that Eddie was attracted to his mysterious guest.

“I mean, it was something that has no bearing on what’s going on right now,” Eddie floundered.

‘No bearing?!’

Eddie seemed to be getting in deeper trouble with Venom the more he tried to rectify himself. Then the stranger moved, and the blanket over him worked itself down his chest to reveal the top part of his clothing. And that got Eddie's attention. The clothing looked familiar, but Eddie figured it was something that didn't get worn out on the street very often. Or in this case, the beach. It'd be more at home on the Bridge of the Starship Enterprise, and Captain James T. Kirk would be wearing it-- as he was now.

Yeah! Sure! Captain James T. Kirk was in his humble abode! And I am Mr. Spock!

'Mr. Spock? Really? The magnificent gentleman on television? Makeup artists must be able to do wonders for you.'

'Can it, okay?! That's all I need! A guy that thinks he's James T. Kirk and a Symbiote who thinks he's a critic!.'

“What’s wrong?” the stranger asked, almost alarmed. “What are you staring at?”

“Sorry. I was just looking at your costume and trying to remember if Comic Con was supposed to be in San Francisco this year.”

“Costume? Comic Con?” The guy looked down at himself. “This isn’t a costume. This is my uniform.”

‘Ah,’ Eddie thought. ‘A true believer.’ The guy’s Star Trek outfit was even authentic enough to have the Starfleet insignia on the chest.

Eddie decided to go along with it. What could it hurt? And it would help keep the stranger quiet. The guy was handsome enough and blonde enough and had those startling blue eyes enough to be Chris Pine, or his alter ego Jim Kirk. Besides, Eddie didn’t want to upset or confuse the guy anymore than he already was.

But then he did.

“And I suppose your name is Jim,” Eddie said.

The stranger seemed to look into himself. “Jim,” he repeated in a haunted voice as if he was realizing and accepting the truth of something. “Yes. Jim. My name is Jim.” He frowned at Eddie. “But how did you even know that?”

“Lucky guess.” Boy, this guy was really hooked on Star Trek! “My name is Eddie, by the way. Eddie Brock.”

The stranger’s face cleared and he smiled a warm smile which stunned Eddie. If Eddie thought the guy was handsome before, it did not compare to when he was smiling. And when he did, the guy was beautiful, downright beautiful. And he was Eddie’s guest. And vulnerable. And Eddie’s.

Eddie’s penis tightened and then Eddie’s eyes widened. This couldn’t be happening! He shouldn’t be having such lustful thoughts about someone in such dire straits. The guy needed help and reassurance, not a sexual assignation or ambush. But the guy was just so damn beautiful and available, that it was difficult not to think of intimacy with him.

‘Are we going to have a threesome, Eddie?’ Venom wanted to know. ‘You are getting excited and I am willing. Jim is handsome now. Just think of how pretty he must be without clothing. Just lying there, ready and eager for us to take him. Just think what it would be like to enter that beautiful body.’

Eddie's penis strained against his jeans.

'I can exist with the love of two Earthlings in my life, Eddie, so that will be no problem. Let us not tarry. I am eager to have him now. Let us not wait.'

Then Eddie got jealous.

“No! No. That's not right!”

“No, what's not right?” the stranger, Jim, wanted to know. “Your name is not Eddie Brock?”

“No. Yes! Yes, my name is Eddie Brock.”

“Then why did you say--”

“I realized that I shouldn’t be standing here chatting when I should be getting you a hot drink. Yes, that's it. You need something hot to drink. That’s the best way to soothe someone. And it’s great for shock. You're probably dehydrated, too.”

“I am in shock? And dehydrated?” Jim questioned.

“I think you’ve had some sort of traumatic experience and need to rest for awhile and recuperate. And you're welcome to stay here for as long as you want. Or have you changed your mind about notifying the police?”

The handsome stranger, or Jim, shook his head. He didn’t know quite why, but he did not want to involve the police. “No. No police.”

That disappointed Eddie. He hated to think that this good-looking guy was on the run from the law, but he supposed that crooks could be good-looking guys, too. Even ones who thought they were James T. Kirk.

“Well, the count is something like seventeen crabs and thirteen seagulls that have disappeared suddenly and never reappeared. I don't know if their families are concerned about their whereabouts, but I know that I'm certainly not,” McCoy said as he yawned and stretched his limbs. He and Spock and Doyeur had been watching surveillance film for hours, and he for one was beginning to hate the sight of a beach or even the thought of ocean spray. “Of course, my eyes might’ve glazed over a time or two, or I might’ve gone into a hypnotic state and didn’t realize it. I think I’d rather fight a band of Romulans than watch any more footage of that particular stretch of beach.”

“Well, I believe that it is safe to say that for awhile that wildlife entered the area in question and did not reappear,” Doyeur concluded. "Then at one point, traffic resumed as normal, and we could see the wildlife still continuing further down the beach."

“Aptly stated,” Spock agreed and tried not to look as bored as he felt. 

“What was odd was that other wildlife suddenly appeared and headed toward us,” Doyeur said. “I think that squirrel startled all of us. Do you suppose it would be safe to say that that wildlife had come from wherever our wildlife had disappeared into?” 

“Hard telling,” McCoy said sadly. He could say little else with his brain and his ass both numb from the same boring activity. If it wasn’t for the fact that Jim Kirk was missing, McCoy would’ve scrapped the whole search long ago. “Well, gentlemen, what do you say we do now?”

“I suggest that we bring in someone new to help,” Spock suggested.

McCoy snorted. “Who do we hate that much to give them this shit job?!”

“Not this job, Doctor. I believe that we have proven our thesis that Jim somehow accidentally entered a temporary portal and disappeared into some sort of vortex of energy that has redeposited him in another place and maybe even another time.”

“Huh?! So you're thinking that we actually could be talking parallel universes or time travel here?!”

“Yes.”

“You can’t answer that way!” McCoy snorted. “That was an ‘either/or’ question, not a ‘yes’ or 'no' question!”

“One involves time and one involves space.”

“Yeah!”

“See, Doctor? You can do it, too,” Spock said smugly.

“This is all very interesting, gentlemen,” Doyeur said. “In the meanwhile I’ve got a missing man and two assailants who are facing hefty jail terms if we can’t find your captain. We got Kirk's attache case back. But unless we find him, his assailants could get charged with his disappearance. These guys probably deserve going to jail, but not for something they didn’t do.”

“Jim would agree with that, too,” McCoy mumbled. “Well, there’s only one thing that can be done now, especially since we're talking about transporting someone from one place to another by unconventional methods.”

“What is that?” Doyeur asked.

“Send for Mr. Scott,” Spock said and McCoy nodded. “He might be able to tell us how we can proceed from here.”

“It’s beautiful out here, Eddie,” Jim said as they strolled the beach in late afternoon. 

Jim was looking a lot better. Eighteen hours of on-and-off sleep and some nourishing food had done wonders for him. He had looked so much better when he had awakened from his last nap that Eddie had decided that it would do him some good to get some fresh air and sunshine. 

So, off they had taken, enjoying the sun and breeze and just being together.

“I had no idea that San Francisco was this close to so much nature,” Jim commented, looking around himself in wonder. “I thought that a lot of the area around the city was all built up.”

Eddie gave him a fond grin. “Just gotta get to the right place, that’s all.”

Jim flashed his beautiful smile that had begun to come more naturally now. “I guess you’re right about that, alright. Why, it’s gorgeous out here!”

“Yeah, and if you look just ahead of us, you’ll see something that will stop your heart with its beauty,” Eddie said with a proud nod. “Behold, the Queen of San Francisco! The Golden Gate Bridge!”

Jim stopped with horror on his face. “That’s the Golden Gate Bridge?! But it can't be!”

“Sure enough is. The one and only,” Eddie replied with a tolerant laugh. “Mind boggling, isn’t it?”

“But, if that is the Golden Gate Bridge, what’s happened to everything else?!”

Then Eddie noticed that Jim was staring elsewhere, not at the bridge spanning the bay.

“What do you mean, what's happened to everything else?” Eddie questioned. 

“Where’s Starfleet Academy and Starfleet headquarters?! They were here just yesterday! And now they're gone!”

Eddie sighed to himself. This guy might be worse than delusional or an overly obsessive fan. He just might be crazy.

‘I am sorry, Eddie.’ And Venom meant it because he could feel Eddie’s sadness and disappointment. His golden love might be tarnished, after all.


	4. Kismet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Jim" and Eddie discover a world in each others arms. Meanwhile, Spock and McCoy send for Scotty in hopes he can help in the search for Kirk.

“Eddie, I hope you don’t take this wrong, but I have to ask you something.”

“Sure. Go ahead,” Eddie said as he set aside his napkin. They were just finishing eating outside a crab shack on the beach. The sun was just going down and it had been a perfect day of lounging around and eating leisurely meals. Eddie hoped that Jim’s question wouldn’t shatter all of the goodness of the day.

“There’s times when I look into your eyes, I swear I see white marbling.”

‘Oh, hell,’ Eddie thought as he turned aside and stared out to sea. What could he possibly tell this guy? That he was seeing an alien? Then Jim would think that Eddie was crazy.

“I’m sorry, Eddie," Jim apologized. "I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I have a feeling that whatever it is should be menacing to me or malevolent, but it seems just-- curious.” He pinched his lips together because he could tell Eddie was upset. “Forget I said anything. But I was just afraid that you had something wrong with you, like a brain tumor.”

‘A brain tumor?’ Venom echoed.

“Or a parasite.”

‘A parasite?!’

“S-h-h-h!" Eddie cautioned. "No. No parasite.”

“So, what is it? Unless you’d rather not say.”

“If I say what it is, you’ll think I’m crazy.”

“Eddie, I can see the white marbling. I know that something is in there that isn’t you.”

“Well, yeah, there is that.”

“Eddie, I feel so close to you. Like we’re soulmates. I know we've just met, but it seems like I've known you before. Somewhere. I just don't know where.”

Funny, Eddie wanted to say. That’s how he felt about Jim.

Jim continued, “And I'm concerned. I just don’t want anything to be physically wrong with you.”

“There isn’t.” Eddie decided to trust Jim with the truth so he leaned closer. “Jim, I’m a host.”

Jim’s eyes enlarged. “For what?” He must’ve been envisioning a giant tapeworm attached to Eddie’s brain.

“I’m hosting an alien Symbiote from Outer Space.”

“Oh, is that all.” Jim went back to his crabs.

Eddie blinked. “Don’t you want to know more?! I just unloaded one helluva bomb on you!”

“We come across alien Symbiotes all the time. They can be pesky little critters.”

“Out in space, I suppose.”

“Sure. Where else would they be?” Jim grinned. “Except this one. The one peeking out through your eyes all the time.”

“His name is Venom.”

“Hi, Venom,” Jim greeted amiably as he leaned toward Eddie. “Nice meeting you.” He dug happily into his crabs again.

‘He does not believe us, Eddie. Of course, there is the white marbling. He cannot deny that.’

‘Maybe he has his own reality and is lenient of someone’s else spin on life. Whatever it takes, I guess.’

‘Whatever it is, Eddie, I do not mind if we keep him. In fact, I like him a lot.’

‘So do I,’ Eddie thought.

Later on, they were quiet as the day gradually left the afternoon sky and shadows took over the night.

Jim was lying on his side and seemed so melancholy. Eddie slid into bed behind him and put his arms around him. It just seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

"That feels good," Jim said with a sigh as he closed his eyes and leaned into Eddie's embrace. "I like being here with you and Venom so much."

'Aw,' Venom whispered.

Eddie’s exploring hand cupped Jim’s penis and waited. Jim did not brush it away. Eddie figured that meant that other liberties could be taken. His hands molded and remolded a lot of Jim's skin intimately, and Jim dropped a lot of random kisses on whatever flesh of Eddie's he could find.

Eddie eventually lifted Jim's top butt cheek and fumbled for the tiny hole that he knew was nestled in there. Jim drew in his breath when Eddie found it. Eddie rubbed it gently and pressed his finger against it as he felt the excited pulse in Jim’s anus. Eddie wondered if he could go further.

"Yeah," Jim whispered. "Do it to me."

"I didn't know if you'd go for something like this," Eddie murmured.

"I'll go for anything, just as long as you're touching me," Jim answered back. "I love being in your arms. Make me feel wanted, Eddie. Keep me from being afraid."

Eddie needed no further encouragement. He poked around the anus a little to stretch it, then he slid his penis in, hot and clean. He felt Jim arch his back, saw him screw his eyes shut in ecstasy, and heard him hiss out his breath.

"Am I hurting you?" Eddie wanted to know as he stropped stroking.

"God, no," Jim moaned. "Do it some more." And when Eddie did, Jim sobbed. "It's been so long."

Even though Eddie didn't want to know, he needed to ask. "How long?"

"Long enough! Now, stop talking and make me happy!" he demanded as if he was used to giving orders.

"Yes, sir," Eddie said with a grin and then decided to make Jim regret ordering him around.

Turned out, Jim liked it rough, too. Turned out, Jim liked it any way he got it. Turned out, Eddie could happily provide a steady supply of what they were both craving. Turned out, they both passed out from exhaustion. Venom curled around the both of them protectively and slept heartily himself.

Turned out, they all fell in love that night. Eddie and Jim maybe a little harder than Venom, but all of them feeling something intense.

"I didn't know if you were a top or a bottom," Eddie said that next day as they both sat nursing hot, black coffee from ceramic mugs.

"With guys, I prefer bottom," Jim answered. "With the ladies, I want to be on top." He thought about it a moment, then grinned. "I'll take that back. I've never found a gal strong enough to be on top. Nyota Uhura came close, though."

"Who is Nyota Uhura? That sounds familiar. Is it an African name?"

Jim frowned. "I-- I don't know. Wait. Yeah, I do. Swahili, actually, both of them," he amended with a grin. “She’s my Communications Officer on the Starship Enterprise.”

Of course, she is, Eddie thought with a discouraged sigh. "Jim" would be great if he just didn't have all of these delusions of being James T. Kirk.

It was all a little too much for Montgomery Scott to absorb. “The captain is missing? Completely missing? Gone without a trace? But, but how can that happen?! All he was doing was taking a shuttle to Starfleet Headquarters."

"He seems to have taken a wrong step and reappeared somewhere else,” Spock answered, then frowned. "Hopefully."

Scotty frowned at Spock's cryptic words.

“I know it’s a lot to assimilate, Scotty--” McCoy started.

“Oh, I’m understanding what you are telling me, Dr. McCoy. I am just wondering how Jim was unlucky enough to wander into something like that and not be able to find his way back out.”

“He had been attacked and was probably disoriented from that,” McCoy explained. “We don’t know how severely he was injured during the few minutes that the pursuing guards could not see him for the palisade. He might’ve fallen after he passed into the place where he disappeared. It seems reasonable to believe that he did sustain some sort of injury, otherwise he would’ve retraced his steps when the world around him changed radically.”

“That in itself might have disoriented him and caused him to fall,” Spock added.

“That’s right,” McCoy agreed.

“So just exactly what is it you think I can do for you lads?” Scotty asked with some skepticism. He had a hunch they were going to ask for something impossible. Of course, they were used to him attempting the impossible for Jim Kirk and succeeding in doing it, so Scotty supposed it was a little bit his own fault that the lads were looking at him so expectantly now.

“You once beamed three people from two places onto one transporter platform when they were trying to escape Nero,” McCoy reminded Scotty.

“Aye. Jim and Captain Pike from the Narada and Mr. Spock from the elder Spock’s ship. I used my time warp continuum theory to accomplish it.”

“You transported from two places to one,” McCoy reiterated. 

“Aye! I said so now, didn’t I?!” This was starting to be trying for Scotty. His eyes bugged out as he tried to hold onto his famous temper. Could the lad not make simple sense of what he kept saying to be the truth?!

Then McCoy delivered his coup de grace. “So, you can transport from place to place, but can you transport from one time to another?”

Scotty looked stunned as his eyes bugged out further. “What?! Are you talking time travel?! What the hell is going on?!” A little chill of horror was racing up his back. “Just where in the hell is the captain anyway?!”

McCoy deflated. “We don’t really know, Scotty. We were hoping you could help us find him.”

“We believe that he stepped into a time portal and that a vortex of energy sucked him up and deposited him in a different reality,” Spock explained. "Hopefully, he is still more or less in the same place. If not, our search will be multiplied substantially."

"I can understand that," Scotty muttered as he fought to get a hold on reality. “Let me see if I understand correctly what you two gentlemen are trying to tell me. The captain stepped into a portal and disappeared to somewhere else in time? That is what you are telling me, lads? He didn’t go just from here to there, which would be a change in place, but to a different age, which would be a change in time. Is that what you are telling me now?”

"That is correct, Mr. Scott," Spock reassured him.

“If you were not saying that with a perfectly straight face, I’d be calling you a liar. And you are many things, Mr. Spock, but being a liar or a kidder is not one of them. But do you know how crazy this all sounds?!” he demanded. “Why, it smacks of science fiction! I do not know how you can even consider such a theory!”

“When logic cannot offer a feasible explanation, Mr. Scott, perhaps it is time to seek an illogical explanation.”

“He’s really getting quite liberal, ain’t he?” Scotty asked McCoy.

McCoy, who was standing with his arms folded in front of himself, shrugged. “It’s the only thing that makes sense,” McCoy answered. “We’ve got footage of animals entering the area where Jim’s footprints disappeared into thin air--”

Scotty’s eyes bugged again. “His footprints disappeared?!”

“Yep. Into thin air. Sorry we didn’t give you that fact. Anyway, animals disappeared and different animals reappeared in their place."

Scotty's eyes really bugged. "They did?!"

"Yes. So we’re wondering if San Francisco could be a portal for time travel, and Jim was unlucky enough to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Well, you know I will help any way I can,” Scotty told them. “But I don’t know where to start. Jim could be anywhere in the past, or even in the future. I donnae have any idea where to start looking for the lad.”

“Perhaps this will help,” Spock said as he handed something to Scotty.

“What’s this?” Scotty said as he glanced at the ordinary white business envelope. 

“It was found in the vicinity of where the captain disappeared,” Spock answered.

“So? Looks like a bill. Somebody probably lost it.”

“Look at the envelope again,” McCoy urged. “Check the postmark.”

Scotty was stunned. “That’s the early Twenty-First Century! But the envelope looks brand new! But it has to be at least two hundred years old!”

“That’s why we think that Kirk wound up where that envelope is from. See who it's addressed to? Edward Brock? There was an Eddie Brock living in San Francisco at that time. He was a noted investigative reporter until he got into a scandal about his news sources. Later he had some notoriety as a writer and poet and of all things, an astronomer. Anyway, that's where we're gonna start looking for Jim.”

“And if he isn’t there?”

“Then our hunt will get harder,” McCoy vowed.

“What’s wrong, Jim?” Eddie asked as they walked arm-in-arm out on the beach.

Wind gently tossed that perfect hair and made him so damn cute that Eddie could die from the picture of his beauty. “I’m happy here, you know that.”

“But?”

Kirk gave him a quick grin. “Heard that, huh?”

“It was silent, but shouted so that the very hills were echoing with it.”

“Something’s missing. Not saying that I don’t love it here with you,” he added quickly. Jim pinched his lips together. “But something feels sort of off-center to me.”

“Your life is missing.”

“My life is you,” Kirk added quickly so that Eddie swung in and kissed him quickly on the lips.

They walked in silence for a few minutes.

“I feel like a heel wanting something more, when I already have so much here with you,” Jim finally said. “I wish I could remember.”

Eddie thought of the Star Trek life that Kirk seemed to remember. How terrible to need a past so badly that you assumed the history of a fictional character!

There was a shimmer of light ahead of them, but just around the corner and out of their line of vision.

“What was that?” Eddie wondered aloud.

“Someone's materializing,” Jim answered in a matter of fact voice, like it was an everyday occurrence.

Great! He’s back on the Star Trek theme, Eddie thought.

At that moment two men in odd-looking uniforms appeared and walked toward them.

Great! Eddie thought. More guys who are stuck on the Star Trek theme. There’s gotta be a convention around here that I don’t know about.

The two guys in blue and black stopped and stood grinning at them, even the guy with the pointed ears, although it didn’t look natural for him to do so.

“Captain, we have found you,” the guy with the green skin and pointed ears said.

“Jim, you’re a sight for sore eyes, and that’s a fact.”

And seeing them brought back Kirk’s memory just like that, and he grinned at them. “Mr. Spock! Bones! Great seeing you guys! How did you ever find me?!”

“An odd circumstance, Jim. Mr. Brock?” McCoy asked, turning to Eddie. “I think this is yours.”

Eddie took the letter. “I’ll be damn. I’ve been looking for this. Where did you ever find it?”

McCoy grinned. “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe it.”

“I think you guys will have quite a story to tell me,” Kirk said.

“You won’t believe it, Jim,” McCoy agreed.

Meanwhile, Eddie Brock was staring at the three guys and not believing what he was seeing. It was the Star Trek guys from the movies, just as big as who done it. But it couldn't be! They were fictional characters, the product of Gene Roddenberry's fertile imagination. Yet, here they were, in the flesh. Hell, he had even been inside the flesh of one of them! Who else could say that he had made love to James T. Kirk?! THE James T. Kirk?!

Then Eddie realized how odd Alice had felt when she had fallen down the rabbit hole, because he was feeling it, too.

“Captain, I do not wish to cut short this happy reunion,” Spock said. “But Mr. Scott is waiting to bring us back. I do not know how long we will maintain our window of opportunity.”

"Guys, I don't think I can go back with you," Kirk said, then smiled at Brock. "I want to stay here. With the man I love."

One of McCoy's eyebrows inched up slightly. "Houston, I think we have a problem."


	5. Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie Brock and Jim Kirk face separation as Spock and McCoy try to talk reason to them.

Spock was trying to make him look at the situation logically, but he realized that Kirk might be beyond all rational thinking. "Captain, you are not of this time. You belong with us, in the Twenty-Third Century. You cannot deny your destiny."

Kirk's tight-lipped grin had no humor in it. "Good old Spock. Ever the voice of reason."

"As much as I hate to say it, Spock's right, Jim," McCoy seconded. "You can't stay here. Besides, you'd miss what you've already had with us. Nothing in this life can compare to blazing trails through the universe."

"Unless I've found a universe right here," Kirk muttered, then gave Eddie a naked look.

McCoy turned to Brock, hoping to make him see reason. "I realize that you two have found something special together. I can see that. And I'm happy for the both of you. Jim deserves it. And you must be pretty special for Jim to choose you. But you've got to think of Jim. As much as you'd like him to stay, he isn't meant to be here. You need to play out your life with whatever your role is here on Earth, and Jim needs to fly through the heavens and seek out other worlds. That's the way your lives are meant to be. This time around," he said, echoing an unconscious belief in reincarnation. "Otherwise you're gonna miss up something that already has been set in motion. And you don't wanna mess with that," he added, revealing a belief in karma.

"Karma's a bitch," Eddie mumbled and echoed what he had told Life Foundation Security Chief Roland Treece just before Annie|Venom had bitten off Treece's head. He glanced at Kirk who was watching him intently. "Don't wanna go messing up our karma, either one of us. She's as exacting as Lady Luck when it comes to vengeance."

"I know," Kirk said softly as he crossed to Brock and moved away with him so that McCoy and Spock couldn't hear. "But I don't want to miss out, either, though. Or lose you."

Eddie willed himself some backbone that he wasn't necessarily feeling. "Don't go messing up gratitude with anything else. I saved your life. Don't go making it more than it was."

"I'm not," Kirk breathed because he didn't have the breath to make it any louder. "I'm wanting what's blossomed since then. I'm wanting what we've found together. In each other."

Eddie bit his lips together and glanced aside with a face wrinkled in concern.

"Don't look away, Eddie. I'm right here. Right where I want to be."

"Aw, man," Eddie said with a groan as his eyes returned to Kirk's earnest face. "Don't do this to us. Don't rip me apart like this."

"I'm sorry," Kirk said softly. He knew of the deep pain that Eddie was suffering, because he was feeling it, too. "I'm sorry to have to put you through this. But the heart wants what the heart wants. And I'm looking at what I want."

Tears pricked at Eddie's eyelids, and he found that he had suddenly become a mouth-breather, just like Kirk. "Don't, Jim. I can't go with you, and you can't stay. Your Chief Medical Officer is right. This isn't how our lives are meant to be, this time around. And we can't change it."

Pain flicked across Kirk's face, then he managed to wipe it away because he knew it wouldn't do any good to be feeling something he couldn't control. "Can I at least give you a hug?" Kirk asked wistfully with his heart in his eyes.

Brock braced himself. Having Kirk in his arms only to lose him again was going to be more than he could handle. But he had to do it so that Kirk could manage to turn his back on him and walk away from him.

"I love you," Kirk whispered to Eddie from deep within their embrace.

"I love you, too," Eddie whispered back.

"I'll always remember," Kirk swore softly.

"I will, too."

"You're family, always and forever," Kirk whispered, echoing what FDR Foster once said to Tuck Hansen after they had taken out an international criminal who had sworn revenge on them. Or was it sometime in the future when FDR would swear that to Tuck?

And Eddie unwittingly whispered back Tuck's words that cemented their friendship and surely something more, "Yeah. You, too."

"I'll be waiting for you, you know," Kirk replied softly as he pulled away. "Somewhere in the universe, we'll find each other back. If it's written in my heart, then it's gotta be written somewhere in the stars. Even Lady Luck and karma can't be that cruel for it not to be true."

Eddie nodded quickly. He couldn't manage anything else. He was starting to internalize this pain as he had done with so much other pain.

Kirk looked deeply into Eddie's eyes and saw the white marbling of Venom's eyes reflecting back at him. Venom was eyeing him with a guarded look. "You, too, Venom. You're included in the deal, too. I hope you understand that."

"Thank you for including me and for not being jealous."

"You're part of him now. How could I love one part of him and not the other?"

"Then you understand that I can never leave him?" Venom prompted. "Even if I found another host, I will stay with this one. Forever. He is mine and I am his. When his body dies, so will mine. And we will go on together for whatever is next. Until then, I will be with him. He will never be alone again. For that is what he fears the most."

"That's the only reason I can leave him now," Kirk whispered. "I know he has someone with him. Someone special." He bit his lips together. "Take care of him for me, Venom."

"I will, Jim," Venom told Kirk's heart. "I love him, too."

"I know you do," Kirk whispered back. The wistfulness in his eyes deepened. But it was only because of the coming parting. "Eddie, I want you to know something."

Eddie bit his lips together, but listened.

"I don't regret it. Not a single moment of it. I want you to know that it's been wonderful. YOU have been wonderful."

Eddie's eyes flicked up at Kirk, then immediately away. Venom had told him the same thing when explaining why he had changed his mind about helping Earth to fight Venom's own kind, "You. You did, Eddie."

Damn he was good at winning over aliens and time travelers and making them fall in love with him! Too bad they had to sacrifice so much because of him: Venom at the Life Foundation aborted launch and Jim Kirk to get back to his own life in the Twenty-Third Century.

"Eddie, you're good people," Kirk insisted, as if he had heard what Eddie had been thinking. "That's why I want to leave you with some hope. When you miss me-- and I know you will-- I want you to look up into the heavens and know that I am up there waiting for you. I'm only one twinkling star away."

Eddie broke the look and turned away. "Oh, hell."

"What's wrong?"

Eddie looked back. "That's what I was told when Great Aunt Judith died. I was seven and she'd been like a grandmother to me. Then she sickened and died. Someone, I can't remember who now, told me to look up into the stars because that's where Judith was now. I can't think of you as dead, Jim. I just can't! But you might as well be, because I won't be able to be with you."

"Captain," Spock called. "We really should leave. They may be only a small window of time for all of us."

"Just another moment."

Spock and McCoy looked nervous, but Kirk was amazingly calm as he looked at Eddie. "It won't be just you looking up, you know. It'll be me looking down, too. I will be watching for you just as much as you'll be looking up for me."

Tears nipped at Eddie's eyes and he felt hope again.

"Our paths will cross again in eternity," Kirk assured him. "We will find each other back. And I'll never be far away. Just look to the stars because that's where I'll be waiting. Because what I feel for you is eternal." He reached out and his fingertips gently touched Eddie's swarthy cheek.

Eddie's eyes narrowed in sorrow, but his heart was pledging one word to Kirk: Forever. And Kirk pledged it right back to him.

"Alright," Kirk proclaimed with a suddenly deep breath. Then he turned aside and let Spock and McCoy lead him away. Kirk never looked back, not once. Because he and Eddie both knew that Kirk's life must be lived when it was intended to be lived and that wasn't now.

Eddie and Venom watched as the three visitors disappeared around the corner and out of their lives forever. Eddie knew that all he had to do was to follow them so that he could be taken up into that shimmering light with them. They were good men. They and their kind would make a home for Eddie and Venom. Besides, those people of the future were used to Symbiotes. Venom would be more readily accepted by the people of tomorrow.

Nothing was really holding Eddie here. Anne was gone with Dan, as it should be. At the end of the day, Eddie wasn't really what Anne had needed. Dan was. Eddie would always be an ache in Annie's heart as she would always be one in his.

"Yet we will stay in our own time, will we not, Eddie?" Venom questioned, and Eddie knew that Venom had been listened to the discussion in Eddie's head. "We will stay here, because this is where we are meant to be?" Venom was pretty smart, when someone thought about it.

"Yeah, that's right." Eddie's grin was painful without one speck of humor in it. But he had to grin that stupid way to keep from crying. "Here we'll stay. Together." A shimmer of light quivered somewhere in front of them and around a corner. Too late. Too late now, forever.

"Bon voyage, my space heroes," Eddie whispered. "Bon voyage, my love."

"You still have me, Eddie."

"Thank goodness for that." He turned away. "Want some late breakfast? Some crab cakes and eggs on the shore?"

"Let us just walk, Eddie, and enjoy the day and the beach and being together."

"Sounds like a plan. And it will be enough. You might even find some seagull willing to sass you. I'll get a lot of fun out of watching that. And then tonight we'll lie out on the beach and make love and look up at the stars where Jim will be. And that will be enough, too. Because we had him with us once, Vee. And a lot of folks never get that much out of life. And that will give us solace. Because we'll always have the stars above us to remind us and a great love in our hearts to sustain us. And we can remember together."

And Eddie got a lot of solace down through the years looking at the stars. He became an amateur astronomer and then a poet, but still his thirst led him on to find other ways of expressing his unrequited love. And his methods of expression through his writing talent brought a lot of comfort to those who read his haunting words. And eventually the hollowness that Eddie was feeling inside himself changed into an acceptance for what could never be. And he was alright with that. For he had loved Jim Kirk once, and it was enough for now.

And when the time eventually came for Eddie Brock to enter that Final Sleep, he did so with the window wide open and the white curtains fluttering in the night breeze and his eyes focused on the myriads of stars above him. For there was where Eddie's eternal home lay. And that was where Jim Kirk waited.

Just one twinkling star away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The following information represents research I did in writing this fic. It is not intended to be instructive or learned. If you are a physicist, please be kind to the note and to the fic.
> 
> Einstein's theory maintains that time and space form a continuum that bends, folds, or warps from the viewer's viewpoint (time warp continuum). Space-time is curved or warped by the distribution of mass and energy in it. Heavenly bodies such as Earth do not move on a curved orbit because of gravity. They move in curved orbits because they follow the nearest thing to a straight path in a curved space which is called a geodesic (which is the shortest line possible between two points on a sphere or any curved surface). (Wikipedia and other sources online)
> 
> Time portals are doorways in time. Vortices of energy allow matter to travel from one place to another thru the portal. (Wikipedia and other sources online)

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing of Star Trek, its characters, and/or its story lines. I also do not own anything of Venom (2018) or This Means War (2012), nor do I represent any of the crew or actors of either motion picture.


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